TREATMENT BY MALE FERN. 163 



takes a powder of Gi Gutti and Calomel, aa gr. v vj, with 9ss 

 Sacch. alb., and puts softening poultices upon the abdomen. If 

 the worm be not expelled, castor oil is again given in half an hour ; 

 in a second half hour, gamboge powder ; then castor oil again ; 

 and possibly, if no traces of inflammation make their appearance 

 in the abdomen, the powder of gamboge and calomel is given 

 again at half-past four. At the same time a clyster is adminis- 

 tered every hour. 



The subsequent treatment has for its object the removal of the 

 inflammatory state of the intestines, by mild diet, leeches, &c. 

 The treatment is said always to fail at the time of full moon 

 (Wolfring). 



b. Weisshaar' s method is a modification of that of Wawruch. 

 His preliminary treatment lasted at first only one or two days, 

 but afterwards three clays. On the second, third, or fourth day, 

 follows a herring diet ; and on the following day the expulsion in 

 the manner of Wawruch, except that Weisshaar gives the castor 

 oil in meat broth, and, instead of orange peel, candied calamus. 

 Instead of the large quantities of fern powder he only gives 

 xv xx gr. pro dosi, with 15 20 gtt. Ol. Filic. Mar., and even 

 the latter alone to irritable subjects. Recently Weisshaar gives 

 60 80 drops Ol. Filic. Mar. with 3ss Ol. Ricini; in half an hour, 

 two table-spoonfuls of castor oil ; in an hour, the first powder of 

 gamboge and calomel ; in half an hour, oil again ; in another 

 half hour, the second powder of gamboge and calomel, and so 

 forth. According to the account given by Weisshaar to Seeger, 

 he easily expels T. solium by this means; T. mediocanellata (mihi), 

 according to him, requires strong doses of oil of turpentine. 

 Weisshaar's subsequent treatment I omit altogether, inasmuch as 

 it presupposes the reproduction of the worm in the intestine, and 

 no longer agrees with our present knowledge. 



c. The so-called Wurtemberg method, purchased by the State 

 from Bechler and Rapp, consists of the following treatment. 

 Expulsion ; One ounce of fern root is boiled for an hour with 

 three pints of water, in a covered pot ; one drachm of cut, fresh 

 Cort. Mezerei, is added to the hot decoction, which is strained in 

 ten or twelve minutes through a cloth, and then mixed with two 

 or three drachms of finely powdered fern root. The patient takes 

 this at once in the morning, fasting; or in three portions, at 

 intervals of an hour. In three or four hours sickness and 

 disorder of the stomach cease, and then calomel, freshly pre- 



